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U.S. to limit oil development in polar bear habitat
The U.S. Interior Department will designate within two years protected areas of the Arctic that are considered critical habitat for polar bears and cannot be harmed by oil development as part of a legal settlement with environmental groups on Monday.
The Interior Department formally listed polar bears as threatened in May, but did not create protected areas for them.
Environmental groups said the threatened listing needed to be coupled with habitat designations to protect polar bears from spreading oil development or other industry impacts.
"You can't protect a species without protecting the place where it lives," said Kassie Siegel, a staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the three groups who sued the Bush administration to secure the designation.
"After global warming, oil development is the biggest threat to polar bears," said Siegel.
Oil companies, looking for untapped resources, are turning to the ice-filled waters of the Arctic as potentially lucrative areas for development. Environmentalists see oil development disturbing a delicate habitat for many Arctic wildlife.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council are still suing the government to have polar bears listed as "endangered," a more critical classification than the current "threatened" listing.
The groups are also seeking to force the Interior Department to mandate regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, which the environmentalists argue are the root cause of the polar bears' problems.
When it designated the bears as threatened, the Interior Department acknowledged that the rapidly warming Arctic climate has damaged polar bears' habitat and the species' chances to avoid extinction.
The partial settlement, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, establishes a June 30, 2010, deadline for the critical habitat designation that was considered important to the species.
"We certainly intended to make a decision on critical habitat anyway," said Bruce Woods, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Alaska headquarters. The U.S. Interior Department will designate within two years protected areas of the Arctic that are considered critical habitat for po... more -
Polar bears at risk increasing with offshore oil
PLEASE TAKE ACTION!
GreenpeaceOffshore Oil = Increased Risk for Polar Bears
Polar bears are hanging on for dear life. They are faced with a rapidly shrinking arctic environment due to global warming. And now the Senate is poised to drive another nail in polar bears' coffins by voting for more drilling off of America's shores.
More oil drilling will do nothing to lower gas prices. It will, however, increase global warming pollution and put the polar bear on an even faster track towards extinction. To solve our dead-end dependence on fossil fuels we need legislation that immediately ends the massive tax breaks for Big Oil; doubles the average fuel efficiency of existing cars to at least 50 miles per gallon; substantially invests in public transportation so people have more and better choices; and provides robust incentives for renewable energy investments to transition us to a clean energy future.
Tell your Senator today! A vote to protect our coastal waters from more drilling is a vote the polar bears desperately need right now.
Please follow the link below to sign a pre-written letter or you can personlize & edit the letter.
http://members.greenpeace.org/action/start.php?action_i... PLEASE TAKE ACTION! GreenpeaceOffshore Oil = Increased Risk for Polar Bears ... more -
Polar bears resort to cannibalism as Arctic ice shrinks
"The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears," according to Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. "They are dependent on the Arctic sea ice for all of their essential behaviors, and as the ice melts and global warming transforms the Arctic, polar bears are starving, drowning, even resorting to cannibalism because they don't have access to their usual food sources." "The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears," according to Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for B... more
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Polar bears resort to cannibalism
"The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears," according to Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. "They are dependent on the Arctic sea ice for all of their essential behaviors, and as the ice melts and global warming transforms the Arctic, polar bears are starving, drowning, even resorting to cannibalism because they don't have access to their usual food sources." "The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears," according to Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for B... more
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Knut's keeper found dead
Thomas Dörflein, the 44-year-old keeper who reared famous Berlin polar bear Knut, has been found dead in his apartment.
The man who acted as the tiny bear's surrogate parent when he was rejected by his own mother became something of a star in his own right as the world was gripped by Knut-mania last year. Last October the bearded, long-haired zookeeper was even awarded Berlin's Medal of Merit in honor of his round-the-clock care of Knut.
A police spokeswoman said that there is no evidence of any foul play and gave no further details, apart from stating that the investigation was ongoing. According to the German news agency DPA, Dörflein had been seriously ill for some time.
Dörflein is survived by his partner, two grown-up children and a six-year-old son. Thomas Dörflein, the 44-year-old keeper who reared famous Berlin polar bear Knut, has been found dead in his apartment. ... more -
Sarah Palin: Ice queen of the Arctic | Environment | The Guardian
Sarah Palin, the Republican party's vice-president nominee, governs an oil-rich area that has seen some of the most dramatic effects of climate change. So what's her record on environmental concerns?
Earlier this year, while writing a documentary on Kivalina, one of several Alaskan barrier-reef islands slipping into the sea, and among the world's worst ecological disasters, I stumbled on the state's 44-year-old governor Sarah Palin. Even then, as she posed in the snow-covered wilderness beside her seaplane and fresh animal kills, rumours swirled around her that she might be a vice-presidential contender. In an extraordinary twist of fate, this sharp-shooter and former small-town beauty queen, who until two years ago was mayor of her tiny hometown, Wasilla, Alaska, has become the American right's golden girl.
Ever since the Palin family soap drama hit prime time, the mainstream media has focused on digging up the dirt, but there have been few mentions about her environmental history. Palin is governor of a state that has seen the most dramatic effects of a warming world, yet until last week she remained unconvinced that climate change is in any way man-made. "The jury's still out on that one," she said, just days after the recent hurricanes and tropical storms were making their way across the Atlantic, offering a glimpse of the climate chaos that may be left for future generations.
Palin, in a recent interview with Newsmax.com, accepted that warming would affect Alaska "more than any other state, because of our location". But she added: "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being manmade." Such a position would put her to the right even of President Bush and some of the oil companies - and it is now scaring the international community.
Last Friday, she finally conceded that the problem might be man-made. In an interview with ABC television, she said: "I'm attributing some of man's activities to potentially causing some of the changes in the climate right now."
Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science, says: "The irony of a climate change denier being based in Alaska is breathtaking. The state is warming faster than practically anywhere else, with winter temperatures up by 6F since 1950. Visitors to Alaska can see the evidence all around, from drunken forests of semi-fallen trees and sunken roads, all unseated by the melting of the permafrost, to unprecedented forest fires."
For conservation and animal protection groups, Palin has long been considered an enemy. According to Greenpeace, "Palin has the most anti-environment records of any governor in the US. She has supported oil drilling in some of the most ecologically sensitive areas in Alaska, even when it meant sacrificing polar bears and beluga whales."
Only this month, Palin told the Republican party convention: "We Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska, we've got lots of both."
*Link to the rest of story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/17/poles... Sarah Palin, the Republican party's vice-president nominee, governs an oil-rich area that has seen some of the most dramatic effe... more -
Palin receives Rubber Dodo award from Centre for Biological Diversity |
Sarah Palin may have seen the light - sort of - on climate change but that did not spare her from being singled out yesterday as America's environmental enemy of the year.
The Centre for Biological Diversity awarded Palin its Rubber Dodo award for her insistence - despite evidence to the contrary - that the polar bear population was rising across the Arctic. The Arizona thinktank condemned the Alaska governor as a "global warming denier".
"Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear," Kieran Suckling, the centre's director, said. "Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee."
The slap comes less than a week after Palin belatedly admitted the possibility of a human factor in climate change, in her first television interview since she was chosen as John McCain's running mate.
The conversion was followed by further revelations of Palin's tenuous relationship with scientific fact. News reports yesterday said that Palin bought a tanning bed and moved it into the governor's mansion soon after her election. A few months later, in May 2007, she issued a proclamation during skin cancer awareness month urging Alaskans to take preventive measures. "Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by overexposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds," she said in a press release.
McCain had skin cancers removed in 1993 and 2000, and is religious about using sun screen and wearing a hat outdoors. Sarah Palin may have seen the light - sort of - on climate change but that did not spare her from being singled out yesterday as Ameri... more -
Polar Bears Against Palin
Don’t miss the hilarious point/counterpoint debate between Palin and a suprisingly articulate and snarky polar bear.
Read the rest of this entry » Don’t miss the hilarious point/counterpoint debate between Palin and a suprisingly articulate and snarky polar bear. ... more -
Cool Urban Polar Bear
Really does make a point. From the Environmental Defense Fund.
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Breaking news: House energy bill passes 236-189
The House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday lifting a longstanding congressional moratorium on offshore drilling.
The extensive energy package introduced by Democrats would give states the option to allow drilling between 50 and 100 miles off their shores. Areas more than 100 miles from the coast would be completely open to oil exploration and drilling.
In addition to drilling, the bill requires the government to sell 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It also provides tax credits for renewable energy and energy efficiency that would be funded by repealing some tax breaks for the oil industry.
http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/16/breaking-news-hou... The House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday lifting a longstanding congressional moratorium on offshore drilling. ... more -
Polar bears 'could become extinct' because of melting ice
Polar bears and other rare species are in danger of dying out, scientists fear, as latest figures show the Artic sea ice is at record lows.
Scientists from the World Wildlife Fund, who are recording the ice cover over the North Pole, said less ice is predicted in the Arctic this year than in any other.
Experts say this not only means a loss of habitat to species like polar bears and loss of livelihood for indigenous peoples but could speed up global warming as water absorbs heat rather than reflecting the sun's rays back into space.
Dr Martin Sommerkorn, senior climate change advisor at WWF International's Arctic Programme, said: "We are expecting confirmation of 2008 being either the lowest or the second-lowest year in terms of summer ice coverage.
READ FULL ARTICLE:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/... Polar bears and other rare species are in danger of dying out, scientists fear, as latest figures show the Artic sea ice is at record ... more -
State of Polar Bears
Melting Arctic ice is stranding - and starving - polar bears. According to some researchers, the health of polar bears is an indicator of the health of the environment. Melting Arctic ice is stranding - and starving - polar bears. According to some researchers, the health of polar bears is an indicator... more
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Lowest ever sea ice in Arctic
Declining ice thickness and what is looking like the second lowest coverage on record means that Arctic sea ice may well have reached its lowest levels ever in terms of total volume.
Final figures on minimum ice coverage for 2008 are expected in a matter of days, but they are already flirting with last year’s record low of 1.59 million square miles, or 4.13 million square kilometres.
“If you take reduced ice thickness into account, there is probably less ice overall in the Arctic this year than in any other year since monitoring began,” said Martin Sommerkorn, WWF International Arctic Programme’s Senior Climate Change Advisor. “This is also the first year that the Northwest Passage over the top of North America, and the Northeast Passage over the top of Russia are both free of ice.”
Dr. Sommerkorn said the continuing loss of older, thicker ice, means that the Arctic ice cover is following a trend of becoming younger and thinner each year. The area of ice that is at least 5 years old has decreased by 56% between 1985 and 2007. The oldest ice types have essentially disappeared. Taken together, the new figures clearly show the Arctic is experiencing the continuation of an accelerated declining trend. Declining ice thickness and what is looking like the second lowest coverage on record means that Arctic sea ice may well have reached ... more -
Once elected, Palin hired friends and lashed foes
Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials. Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between gov... more
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Whose Side Are You on? The American Consumer and the Taxpayer, or Big Oil?
Speaker Nancy Pelosi | Pelosi on Energy Bill:
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic leaders held a news conference today to discuss the comprehensive energy bill to be introduced this week. Below are her remarks:
“I apologize for keeping you waiting, especially in these cramped quarters. But I come from our Caucus meeting very energized by what our Members had to say, pun intended. As we have discussed this month, Democrats will continue efforts to take America in a New Direction.
For our economy and our energy policy, we are organized, we are unified, we’re focused, we’re disciplined, and we’re ready to go. Two of the issues that are at center stage are the energy policy legislation that we have put forth and a possible stimulus package. These are related, in fact, because they address the economic insecurity of America’s working families, and they also address the problems challenging Americans who are out of work.
Today more than 9 million Americans are out of work, the unemployment rate is a five-year high. We must take immediate action to strengthen our economy. We’ve been saying that for a while, the Administration has resisted, hopefully the statistics will speak eloquently to the White House that a stimulus package is needed. It will be a stimulus package to create jobs.
We will vote on a comprehensive energy policy – and what I told you about the stimulus package was not all inclusive, there are other items, I was giving you a sample of what could be in such a bill.
This week, the House will vote on comprehensive energy legislation that is a result of a reasonable compromise.
I am very proud of our Caucus and how we are coming together on this. It will put us on the path toward energy independence by expanding domestic supply. It will protect consumers and taxpayers with strong action to lower the price of the pump and end taxpayer giveaways to Big Oil. It will ensure a clean green future through energy efficiency and conservation, and it will commit America to renewable energy and help create millions of good paying green jobs...
This comprehensive energy legislation is the result of serious compromising among Democrats to bring down gas prices now and invest in a renewable future. Republicans must set aside their ‘drill only’ policy; even their own supporters have said we cannot drill ourselves out of this emergency situation.
It will come down to this when it comes to energy. Whose side are you on? The side of the American consumer and the taxpayer, or Big Oil?
If they want to drill offshore we say, ‘Okay, if you want to drill on the outer continental shelf, let’s have a discussion and a change of the relationship between our oil, which is owned by the American people, the desire of Big Oil for us to subsidize their drilling, and us not to, the American people not getting the benefit of the profits.’ So more drilling, no subsidies, and we want our royalties, in order to pay for investments in renewable energy resources, make a strong commitment to LIHEAP and the land and conservation fund, something like that.
And if you oppose that, what are you saying? ‘I’m for drilling and for subsidized Big Oil and I want all of the profits to go to Big Oil, and I don’t want to visit this relationship of getting the funds that we are owed from the royalties of holidays in the late 90s.’
It’s pretty exciting because we’re at a crucial place in our energy future and this decision will be an important one, and we want the American people to see the distinction between the Democrats and the Republicans on this. Do you want to drill now on the continental shelf? We want our royalties. No more subsidies for you. We want those subsidies and those royalties for LIHEAP, for renewable energy resources, for a better energy future for our country.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi | Pelosi on Energy Bill: ... more -
Our Polar Bears, Ourselves...OUR FUTURE
It wasn't much noticed at the time, but three weeks before she was chosen as John McCain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin played a key supporting role in the latest episode of the Bush Administration's eight-year war on the Endangered Species Act, one of the cornerstones of American environmental law. On August 4 Alaska sued the government for listing the polar bear as a "threatened" species, an action, the lawsuit asserted, that would harm "oil and gas...development" in the state. In an accompanying statement, Palin complained that the listing "was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available" and should be rescinded.
The Bush Administration had not wanted to designate the polar bear as threatened in the first place; now Palin's lawsuit provided cover to backtrack on the decision. The Interior Department had issued the listing only after environmental groups filed two lawsuits, and the courts ordered compliance. While the polar bear population was currently stable, the plaintiffs argued, greenhouse gas emissions were melting the Arctic ice that polar bears rely on to hunt seals, their main food source. A study by the US Geological Survey supported this argument, concluding that two-thirds of all polar bears could be gone by 2050 if Arctic ice continues to melt as scientists project. The listing was the first time global warming had been cited as the sole premise in an Endangered Species Act case, and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne clearly wanted it to be the last. When Kempthorne announced the polar bear listing on May 14, he emphasized that it would not affect federal policy on global warming or block development of "our natural resources in the Arctic."
A week after Palin's lawsuit, Kempthorne delivered on that pledge. On August 11 he proposed new rules that could allow federal agencies to decide for themselves whether their actions will imperil a threatened or endangered species. The rule reverses precedent: since passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, scientists from the Fish and Wildlife Service have made such determinations independent of the agency involved. Under the new rule, if the Army Corps of Engineers is building a dam, the corps can decide whether it is putting species at risk. To make sure no one missed the point, Kempthorne told reporters that the new rule, which he termed "a narrow regulatory change," would keep the Endangered Species Act from becoming "a back door" to making climate change policy.
Kempthorne's proposal nevertheless seems likely to go forward. An obligatory thirty-day period for public comment expires September 15, after which Interior can begin to implement the rule. Congress could block funding, but few expect that to happen. Lawsuits are certain to follow, but critics say the quickest solution would be for the next administration to withdraw the rule. Barack Obama seems likely to do that; he immediately condemned Kempthorne's proposal. John McCain was silent. But his choice of Palin--who does not believe global warming is caused by humans but does think it's acceptable for humans to gun down wolves from airplanes--suggests that Arctic creatures have much to fear from a McCain administration.
FOR THE REST OF THIS REPORT, PLEASE VISIT: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080929/hertsgaard It wasn't much noticed at the time, but three weeks before she was chosen as John McCain's vice presidential running mate, A... more -
Sarah Palin's record on environment is abysmal
A particularly worrisome aspect of the Palin candidacy is her abysmal record on the environment during her two years as Alaska governor, and how that would translate into national environmental policy if she became vice president. Her environmental record as governor of the nation's "last frontier" deserves close examination.
Climate change:
Although Alaska is ground zero in the crisis of global warming, Palin has done virtually nothing to address the problem except hold meetings and appoint a "climate sub-cabinet" that likewise has done little. Lots of talk, no action. Although in the past two years the Arctic summer sea ice shrunk to the lowest levels ever recorded, Palin apparently does not believe it is human-induced or cause for alarm. She was asked to establish an Alaska Office on Climate Change, an Alaska Climate Response Fund (based on a tax on Alaska oil production) and emissions reduction targets for Alaska, but has taken no action on those requests.
Polar bears:
This summer, Palin filed suit against the Bush administration over the federal listing of polar bears as threatened, saying that her opposition was based on a "comprehensive scientific review." But when asked to release the scientific review, she refused. The document, later obtained by the public (from the federal government), clearly shows that, contrary to Palin's assertions, the state of Alaska's marine mammal scientists agreed with the federal conclusions that the polar bears are in serious trouble because of global warming and loss of their sea ice habitat, and that they would be gone from Alaska by 2050. Palin clearly decided to oppose the listing in order to protect Arctic oil and gas development, then publicly misrepresented the basis for her decision, and then tried to conceal all of that. Having run for office on a platform of honesty and transparency, this behavior was neither. Her extreme position here puts her to the political right of the Bush /Cheney administration.
Endangered species:
Earlier this year, Palin approved a $2 million state appropriation for a conference on the "economic impacts" of the Endangered Species Act, designed to persuade the public that ESA listings were too costly and unwarranted. Recently she agreed to use the money instead to fund the state's lawsuit against the Bush administration over the polar bear listing -- a likely violation of the state constitutional provisions on appropriation. She opposes additional species listings and other protections in Alaska, where many species are at risk because of climate change and other threats.
Predator control:
Palin approved and expanded the state's aerial predator control program, where wolves are shot from aircraft and bears hunted from aircraft and killed upon landing. This year, her state biologists even dragged 14 newborn wolf pups from their den and, having already shot their parents, then shot each of the pups in the head at close range. Last year, her administration offered a $150 bounty for each wolf killed until the bounty was ruled illegal by the courts. Hundreds of wolves are killed each year by this antiquated state program that has no scientific justification whatsoever, but rather is designed to appease Palin's urban sport hunter supporters.
Pebble mine:
Palin aggressively opposed the "clean water initiative" on the August ballot in Alaska (which then failed), favoring instead foreign mining company desires for fewer government regulations controlling their toxic effluent into salmon streams. She has supported virtually any and all mining proposals that have come her way, even likely the enormous Pebble gold and silver mine proposed in the Bristol Bay watershed. That plan put at risk the largest runs of sockeye salmon in the world, where this summer fishermen caught more than 27 million salmon. A particularly worrisome aspect of the Palin candidacy is her abysmal record on the environment during her two years as Alaska governo... more -
Polar Bears turn green In Japan
Green polar bears are drawing questions from puzzled visitors at a Japanese zoo.
Three normally white polar bears at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in central Japan changed their color in July after swimming in a pond with an overgrowth of algae.
The sight of green polar bears has prompted many questions from visitors concerned about whether the animals are sick or carrying mold, zoo official Masami Kurobe said Sunday. Green polar bears are drawing questions from puzzled visitors at a Japanese zoo. ... more -
Palin: the real scandal
"The woman who could soon be a 72-year-old's heartbeat away from the United States presidency has an environmental policy so toxic it would make the incumbent, George Bush, blush.
Mr McCain has stressed he is concerned about global warming and has come out against drilling in the Arctic reserve. But, in recent weeks, he has wobbled on the issue. And environmentalists are describing Mrs Palin, who denies climate change is man-made, as "either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading".
She wants to start drilling. She wants to block US moves to list the polar bear as an endangered species. And she has allowed big game hunters to shoot Alaska's bears and wolves from low-flying planes." "The woman who could soon be a 72-year-old's heartbeat away from the United States presidency has an environmental policy so... more -
Green polar bears puzzle Japan zoo visitors
Green-colored polar bears are drawing questions from puzzled visitors at a Japanese zoo.
Three normally white polar bears at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in central Japan changed their color in July after swimming in a pond with an overgrowth of algae.
The sight of green polar bears has prompted many questions from visitors concerned about whether the animals are sick or carrying mold, zoo official Masami Kurobe said Sunday.
"Visitors seem to be shocked by the color, and we are asked every day why they are so green," he said.
High temperatures in July and August and less-frequent water changes because of the zoo's conservation efforts caused an algae growth in the bear pond and safety moat, Kurobe said.
Algae that enters hollow spaces in the bears' fur is hard to rinse off, he said.
The bears are expected to return to their natural color when the algae growth subsides in November, Kurobe said. Green-colored polar bears are drawing questions from puzzled visitors at a Japanese zoo. ... more
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